NEW YORK (AP) — Donald E. Newhouse, president of one of the largest family-controlled publishing companies in the nation and a former board chairman of The Associated Press, died Tuesday. He was 96 and died at his home in New Jersey, his family said.
During his career, Newhouse served as president of The Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey, and head of Advance Publications’ newspaper group, which he navigated into the internet age.
“You reveled in his company. He filled you with energy and humor when you felt doubtful and weak,” Anna Wintour, the global editorial director of Vogue and Conde Nast’s chief content officer, said in an obituary released Tuesday night by the Newhouse family.
Newhouse, who lived in New York, spent nearly 50 years overseeing the 35 newspapers of Advance Publications, the media business started by his late father, Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr., in 1922. His older brother, S.I. Newhouse Jr., was chairman of the company and oversaw Conde Nast magazines. He died in 2017.
Louis D. Boccardi, retired president and CEO of the AP, said Newhouse was an extraordinary chairman for the cooperative.
“His voice was never the loudest in the room, but it was often the wisest,” Boccardi said. Newhouse was instinctively private, but behind that, Boccardi said, was a generous man, at home anywhere and curious about everything.
“He could come across as self-effacing and deferential, but in Don’s skilled hands those were qualities that made him an enormously strong and effective leader,” Boccardi said.
A man who didn’t chase the spotlight
Newhouse, born in 1929, was known for staying out of the public eye. A reporter once asked him to list the biggest chances he took in his career. The answer: “Inviting your questions.”
The usually reserved Newhouse did step into the spotlight when he took on the role of chairman of the Newspaper Association of America from 1993 to 1994 and then chairman of the AP board of directors from 1997 to 2002. He had served on the AP board for nine years before becoming its chairman.
“My dad believed in the journalistic mission of the AP,” said Michael Newhouse, Donald E. Newhouse’s son. He added that his dad and the publication’s then-CEO would travel around the world to meet AP journalists.
“He was a smart and shrewd businessman but as thoughtful and kind a man as you’ll find. Being in his presence was always a joy,” said Doug Clifton, editor of one of Newhouse’s papers, The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, from 1999 to 2007.
Newhouse attended Syracuse University but never graduated, heading into the family’s newspaper business instead. In 2016 he finally received a degree from the school and gave its commencement address.
Newhouse would regularly visit his newspapers but left the ultimate authority of running them to his publishers.
“Each of our newspapers operates independently, with publishers who are strong, who set policy for their individual organizations and who have the authority and responsibility of carrying out the policies they set,” he said in 1993 when taking over as chairman of the newspaper association.
Newhouse was known for spending money to make sure that papers got the best stories. Jim Willse, editor of The Star-Ledger from 1995 until 2010, said they “added staff, modernized the design, took on investigations and other major projects.”
Newhouse’s philosophy of spending money to produce quality coverage and a hands-off approach toward his editors led to many successes. From 2001 to 2012, Advance’s newspaper group was awarded a dozen Pulitzers.
Many of those newspapers were able to thrive and remain profitable because they dominated their market, but Newhouse said he was very much aware of what he called the “dramatically changing media landscape” and how people get their news.
“The 15th-century revolution was epitomized by the printing of the Gutenberg Bible; ours by Ted Turner’s cable news network and by web-based news sites — news in real time from anywhere to everywhere,” he said in 2004 at the rededication of a communications school named after his father at Syracuse University.
Three years later, he told one of his papers, The Post-Standard of Syracuse, New York, that newspapers can survive “by producing content that is relevant, interesting, accurate and entertaining for newspapers and the internet.”
He steered through financial struggles
Yet the papers did ultimately struggle financially.
Advance was known in the industry for a pledge that employees who weren’t in a union would have jobs regardless of economic downturns or technological advances. In 2009, the company announced that the pledge would be withdrawn.
The company also moved away from daily publishing of several papers. In 2012, it announced that the Post-Standard; The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, Louisiana; the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and the Birmingham News, the Press-Register of Mobile and The Huntsville Times, all in Alabama, would cease daily publication and would only offer print editions on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Those changes were accompanied by hundreds of layoffs.
“His conservative approach left both the papers and its employees somewhat unprepared for the realities of the internet,” said Thomas Maier, who wrote a 1994 biography of the family.
Newhouse’s eldest son, Steven, spearheaded the company’s growth on the internet and on mobile devices. Steven Newhouse is currently co-president of Advance Publications.
“My dad spent his life in the newspaper business and was devoted to it, built it up and enjoyed many good years. When it became more challenging, he was first in line to work through, finding solutions to keep the local journalism franchise going,” he said.
While Newhouse was dedicated to Advance, his true passion was his family. His daughter, Katherine Mele, said his favorite pastime was 3-mile (4.8-kilometer) walks with them.
In addition to his children, Newhouse is also survived by his grandchildren. His wife, Susan, died in 2015.
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Mayerowitz is a former Associated Press journalist. AP reporter Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.
